• (British) enPR: lô, IPA: /lɔː/
• (America) enPR: lô, IPA: /lɔ/
• (cot-caught) enPR: lä, IPA: /lɑ/
• (Australia) enPR: lô, IPA: /ɫoː/

From Middle English lawe, laȝe, from Old English lagu, borrowed from Old Norse lǫg, originally the plural of lag ("layer, stratum, a laying in order, measure, stroke"), from Proto-Germanic *lagą, from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-.

Not related to legal, nor to French loi, Spanish ley, all of which ultimately derive from Latin lēx, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to gather”).

law

1. (usually with "the") The body of binding rules and regulations, customs and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:

     Not unnaturally, "Auntie" took this communication in bad part. […] Next day she […] tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and had perhaps spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.

   • 1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. I:

     Here one comes upon an all-important English trait: the respect for constitutionalism and legality, the belief in "the law" as something above the State and above the individual, something which is cruel and stupid, of course, but at any rate incorruptible. It is not that anyone imagines the law to be just. Everyone knows that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor. But no one accepts the implications of this, everyone takes it for granted that the law, such as it is, will be respected, and feels a sense of outrage when it is not.

   The courts interpret the law but should not make it.

   In theory, entrapment is against the law.

   1. The body of such rules that pertain to a particular topic.

      property law

      commercial hunting and fishing law

   2. Common law, as contrasted with equity.
2. A binding regulation or custom established in a community in this way.

   There is a law against importing wallabies.

   A new law forbids driving on that road.

   The court ruled that the executive order was not law and nullified it.

   • 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC ↗:

     As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, […]. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. […] I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with gentlemen in private life.

3. (more generally) A rule, such as:
   1. Any rule that must or should be obeyed, concerning behaviours and their consequences. (Compare mores.)

      "Do unto others as you wish them to do unto you" is a good law to follow.

      the law of self-preservation

   2. A rule or principle regarding the construction of language or art.

      the laws of playwriting and poetry

   3. A statement (in physics, etc) of an (observed, established) order or sequence or relationship of phenomena which is invariable under certain conditions. (Compare theory.)

      Synonyms: Thesaurus:law of nature

      the laws of thermodynamics

      Newton's third law of motion states that to every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.

      This is one of several laws derived from his general theory expounded in the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

   4. (mathematics, logic) A statement (of relation) that is true under specified conditions; a mathematical or logical rule.

      Mathematical laws can be proved purely through mathematics, without scientific experimentation.

   5. Any statement of the relation of acts and conditions to their consequences.

      the law of scarcity

      the law of supply and demand

   6. (linguistics) A sound law; a regular change in the pronunciation of a language.

      Grimm's law

      Dahl's law

   7. (cricket) One of the official rules of cricket as codified by the its (former) governing body, the MCC.
4. The control and order brought about by the observance of such rules.

   They worked to maintain law and order.

   It was a territory without law, marked by violence.

5. (informal) A person or group that act(s) with authority to uphold such rules and order (for example, one or more police officers).

   Here comes the law — run!

   then the law arrived on the scene

6. The profession that deals with such rules (as lawyers, judges, police officers, etc).

   He is studying for a career in law.

   She has practiced law in New York for twenty years.

7. Jurisprudence, the field of knowledge which encompasses these rules.

   She went to university to study law.

8. Litigation; legal action (as a means of maintaining or restoring order, redressing wrongs, etc).

   They were quick to go to law.

9. (now, uncommon) An allowance of distance or time (a head start) given to a weaker (human or animal) competitor in a race, to make the race more fair.
10. (aviation) A mode of operation of the flight controls of a fly-by-wire aircraft.

    normal law; alternate law; direct law

11. (fantasy) One of two metaphysical forces ruling the world in some fantasy settings, also called order, and opposed to chaos.
12. (legal, chiefly, historical) An oath sworn before a court, especially disclaiming a debt. (Chiefly in the phrases "wager of law", "wage one's law", "perform one's law", "lose one's law".)

• French: loi, droit
• German: Gesetz, Recht
• Italian: legge
• Portuguese: lei, direito
• Russian: пра́во
• Spanish: ley, derecho

• French: loi
• German: Gesetz
• Italian: legge
• Portuguese: lei
• Russian: зако́н
• Spanish: ley

• French: loi, théorème
• German: Gesetz
• Italian: legge
• Portuguese: lei
• Russian: зако́н
• Spanish: ley

• French: loi
• German: Gesetz
• Italian: legge
• Portuguese: lei
• Russian: зако́н
• Spanish: ley

• German: Gesetz
• Italian: legge
• Portuguese: lei
• Russian: поли́ция

• Italian: legge

law (laws, present participle lawing; simple past and past participle lawed)

1. (obsolete) To work as a lawyer; to practice law.
2. (ambitransitive, chiefly, dialectal) To prosecute or sue (someone), to litigate.
   • 1860, George Eliot (Mary Anne Lewes), The Mill on the Floss:

     Your husband's [...] so given to lawing, they say. I doubt he'll leave you poorly off when he dies.

3. (nonstandard) To rule over (with a certain effect) by law; to govern.
4. (informal) To enforce the law.
5. To subject to legal restrictions.

From Middle English lawe, from Old English hlāw.

law (plural laws)

1. (obsolete) A tumulus of stones.
2. (Northern England, Scotland, archaic) A hill.
   • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Lantern-bearers”, in Across the Plains: With Other Memories and Essays, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC ↗, part I, page 209 ↗:

     [Y]ou might climb the Law, where the whale's jawbone stood landmark in the buzzing wind, and behold the face of many counties, and the smoke and spires of many towns, and the sails of distant ships.

From Middle English lagh, from Old Norse lag, from Proto-Germanic *lagą.

law (plural laws)

1. (dialectal or obsolete) A score; share of expense; legal charge.

• lawing

Compare la and Lawd.

1. (dated) An exclamation of mild surprise; lawks; in interjections, a minced oath for Lord.
   • 1791-92, Jane Austen, ‘The Three Sisters’, Juvenilia:

     ‘Do tell me once for all, whether you intend to marry Mr Watts or not?’ ‘Law Mama, how can I tell you what I don't know myself?’

• laws

1. Surname.
2. A male given name Diminutive of Lawrence.

   Coordinate terms: Laws, Laus, Lars, Lau, Lar, Lawry, Laury, Larry, Laurence, Lawrence

From Old English hlaw.

1. Surname, perhaps originally meaning someone who lives near a burial mound.
2. (Scotland) a conical hill
3. A village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland (OS grid ref NS8252).

Capitalized form of law.

1. (Judaism) the five Books of Moses, particularly the commandments in it, as well as their specification in the Mishnah and their further interpretation in later religious literature

   Hyponyms: Oral Law, Written Law

2. (Christianity, biblical) the commandments in the Books of Moses, sometimes seen as transcended by Christ
3. (Christianity, less often) the commandments and moral principles that are binding for Christians, such as the Decalogue, the teachings of the New Testament, the Church Fathers, etc.

From Cantonese 羅.

1. Surname.

law (plural laws)

1. (military) Acronym of light anti-tank weapon